St. Thomas senior Ashleigh Hayes began her one-year reign as the St.Paul Winter Carnival’s Queen of the Snows Friday, Jan. 27.

Hayes, who has lived in the St. Paul area her whole life, was excited to represent her city and state.

“I got to see the Royal Family as a young girl and looked up to them and knew that I wanted to be as regal, poised and confident as the women that I saw then,” Hayes said. “As I grew older, I realized all of the community work and volunteerism that they do along with the program. That’s something that’s very special to me in my life, giving back to my own community and being in a position to volunteer.”

A panel of five judges selected Hayes, who was among thirteen candidates vying for the crown. Calida Cogan, event manager of the carnival, said that the panel was selected throughout the year.

“They’re kind of secretive throughout all of the events,” Cogan said. “They just go as regular attendees. The candidates don’t actually know who the judges are until the last week when they do the final interviews.”

Hayes was judged on various public speaking techniques, her ability to work in a team setting, her overall poise and appearance and her commitment to representing the city of St. Paul and the St. Paul Winter Carnival.

Cogan said that Hayes will be making appearances during the carnival and also throughout the summer.

“Not only does she do festivals and parades and that kind of thing, but she makes other public appearances too,” Cogan said. “Usually with the rest of her royal family.”

Hayes said that she will even make some appearances outside of the state.

“We will travel all around Minnesota as well as abroad,” Hayes said. “We actually go to Canada in a few weeks for one of their celebrations, some festivals down in Florida, as well as South Dakota and possibly Georgia. We’ve got a lot of opportunities to really spread the message of the Winter Carnival celebration and tradition that we’ve had in St. Paul for 126 years now.”

Last year, 2008 St. Thomas graduate Madalyn Dosch was crowned the Queen of the Snows.

Steve Cortinas of Eagan became the first Hispanic King Borias in carnival history, and there are four princes and four princesses.

Carly Samuelson can be reached Samu5380@stthomas.edu.

Ryan Shaver contributed to this report.